


Rochliffe Abbey

by LookingForShadows



Series: The Lioness Exquisite [3]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Deathly Hallows missing moment, Gen, internal religious conflict
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-07
Updated: 2015-10-07
Packaged: 2018-04-25 08:29:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 779
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4953406
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LookingForShadows/pseuds/LookingForShadows
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ginny is praying for some good news.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Rochliffe Abbey

Rochcliffe Abbey, set on the near-mythological Yorkshire moors, is smaller than she remembers from her trips as a child here, but just as imposing. Though not ostentatious, the arches along the cloisters swoop up and down like a flock of birds, wings made of crumbling gray stone, bell tower three stories high and filled with steep, twisting stairs. 

There is also a small chapel, dilapidated from the Renaissance onward and filled with the same tall, stone arches and pillars, with many rows of worn-down pews. At the front are moth-eaten padded kneelers surrounding the alter meant for communion, and this is where Ginny Weasley is kneeling.

 _Dear God,_ she starts out in her head, just as her mother always does in times of crisis, but reconsiders. If there was a God, one living in the sky that could intervene with mere mortals - even magic mortals - would he have not already alleviated the hell on earth she is living in?

 _Dear God,_ she thinks again, acquiescing, _if you exist, please keep us safe here at Auntie Muriel’s, Mum and Dad and Charlie and the twins and I, and I suppose old Muriel herself. And Bill – and Fleur (Phlegm) – at Shell Cottage, of course. Protect the Burrow, Dad’s brother in Hampshire, Neville and McGonagall and everyone at Hogwarts, and Luna, wherever she is._

_But please watch over Harry, Ron, and Hermione most of all._

_Please, God, if you exist, give Harry strength._

The crackling pop of Apparation echoing against the chapel walls is frightening and exhilarating at the same time, sending Ginny to her feet, wand ablaze. But there is no Death Eater: out of the shadows emerges only Remus Lupin, asleep on his feet, slightly tipsy, and clearly the happiest he’s been in his life.

“Professor Lupin!” Ginny cries, forgetting about such stuff as security questions and happy to see signs of the outside world from someone who’s not a redhead.

“Ginny!” he says in greeting, and adds an afterthought of, “And it’s Remus, please.”

“Erm – Remus, then. Did Tonks have the baby?!”

He gazes around the chapel with faint interest. “Why, this place must be from at least the tenth century! Fascinating that the Prewetts are from here – I may be mistaken, but doesn’t your mother have Cornish roots?”

“Yes, yes, on Granny Prewett’s side. But – the baby?!”

“A boy!” he says proudly, beaming. “Teddy, after Dora’s father! Just born an hour ago - his hair was ginger the last I saw him – black before that - I expect it’ll be blonde by the time I’m home!”

Ginny grins and hugs the former professor back. “Congratulations!”

“You’ll be godmother?” he says, his tired hands taking hold of her freckled, skinny set. “Dora was insistent – no one better – I agree with her, of course –”

Ginny stares at him in shock. He – he didn’t meant her, now, had he? Surely Remus means Mum, or even Fleur (Phlegm), but surely not a sixteen-year-old girl?

“ _Me_?”

“Of course! You’ll accept then?”

“But - are you sure you don’t mean my mum? I mean, it’s hard to get us mixed up but we do both have red hair and brown eyes and ‘Molly’ in our name –”

He gives her a look of confusion, even in a drunk-on-happiness state. “No, no – asked Molly and Arthur – because you’re underage, you see – both said yes – well?”

“Yeah!” Ginny says, and hugs him again. “When can I see the baby – Teddy?”

“Soon – Dora’s rather tired – a few days, perhaps – I’ve got a son!”

“I know!” she says, swept up in all the excitement. “Oh, thank you, Remus, for making me godmother!”

“Thank you for accepting – should go now – I’ll see you soon!”

“Good-bye!” she calls out, but he has already Disapparated to wherever he is going, probably to spread the good news.

She stands there desolately for what seems like many lifetimes, wind sweeping long ginger hair behind her, and shaking slightly. The stone walls and floor and high, arched ceilings suddenly seem very lonesome and cold.

She turns away and then a corner of light comes from behind, flooding a sense of warmth over her bare arms and over the rest of her body.

It is a Patronus, a rather sedate wolf with warm, silvery eyes, and it looks as though wise words or Georgian chants will spring from his snout, but instead it opens up to Remus’s exuberant voice.

“I just saw - well, you know - he’s to be godfather - he’s all right – can’t tell you anymore - Teddy and Dora send their love.”

She breathes a tense sigh of relief when the wolf opens its mouth once more.

“He looks like he misses you.”

And her spirits begin to sing.

**Author's Note:**

> Six years ago, going off the idea that Ginny Weasley ought to have been made Teddy's godmother, I wrote a very early draft of Rochcliffe Abbey. Eventually, Knight on a White Horse and Naming were written to explain some of the rationale I had for the last story of the bunch.
> 
> I can't say I'm entirely pleased with the way these three stories turned out (particularly Naming), but it is long past time to get them out into the world - and I want people to read them. I don't think that Ginny actually broke the Trace on her wand, although I do think that there must be a way it _can_ be broken, but thought that if anyone would do that, it would be Ginny - Harry, Ron, and Neville wouldn't know, Hermione would likely consider the whole thing a myth, and I think that Luna might hesitate at an experimental spell for obvious reasons. To me, Ginny was always the most daring of the Ministry Six. 
> 
> So here's to Ginny: the powerful girl who proved that "though she be but little she is fierce."


End file.
